Opera
Opera is a web browser for Windows, macOS, and Linux operating systems developed by Norwegian company Opera Software AS. It uses the Blink layout engine. An earlier version using the Presto layout engine is still available and runs on FreeBSD systems. Opera was conceived at Telenor as a research project in 1994 and was bought by Opera Software in 1995. Initially a commercial web browser, Opera became freeware in 2005. Before 2013, Opera used the Presto layout engine. The Presto versions of Opera received 13 different awards. In 2013, Opera changed its layout engine to Blink, the layout engine of its competitor Google Chrome. These new versions were criticized for lacking popular user interface elements and for the layout engine change. In 2016, Opera Software AS was sold to a Chinese consortium. The parent company, the similarly named Opera Software ASA, changed its name to Otello Corporation. Features of the Opera web browser include private browsing, tabbed browsing, download manager, mouse gestures and browser extensions. Features Main article: Features of the Opera web browser Opera has originated features later adopted by other web browsers, including Speed Dial, pop-up blocking, re-opening recently closed pages, private browsing, and tabbed browsing.3940 Opera includes a bookmarks bar and a download manager. Opera also has "Speed Dial", which allows the user to add an unlimited number of pages shown in thumbnail form in a page displayed when a new tab is opened. Speed Dial allows the user to more easily navigate to the selected web pages.394041 Usability and accessibility It is possible to control some aspects of the browser using the keyboard shortcuts.42 Page zooming allows text, images and other content such as Adobe Flash Player, Java platform and Scalable Vector Graphics to be increased or decreased in size to help those with impaired vision.43 Opera Software claims that when the Opera Turbo mode is enabled, the compression servers compress requested web pages (excepts HTTPS pages) by up to 50%, depending upon the content, before sending them to the users.44 This process reduces the amount of data transferred and is particularly useful for crowded or slow network connections, making web pages load faster or when there are costs dependent for the total amount of data usage.44 This technique is also used in Opera Mini for mobile devices45 and smartwatches.46 Privacy and security See also: Browser security One security feature is the option to delete private data, such as HTTP cookies, browsing history, items in cache and passwords with the click of a button.47 This lets users erase personal data after browsing from a shared computer. When visiting a site, Opera displays a security badge in the address bar which shows details about the website, including security certificates.47 Opera also implements the Google Safe BrowsingAPI to check the website that is being visited against blacklists for phishing and malware, and displays a warning page if it matches any of these lists.47 In January 2007, Asa Dotzler of the competing Mozilla Corporation accused Opera Software of downplaying information about security vulnerabilities in Opera, (that were fixed in December 2006). Dotzler claimed that users were not clearly informed of security vulnerabilities that were present in the previous version of Opera, and thus they would not realize that they needed to upgrade to the latest version or else risk being exploited by hackers.48 Opera Software responded to these accusations on the next day.49 In 2016, a free virtual private network (VPN) service was implemented in the browser.50 Opera said that this would allow encrypted access to websites otherwise blocked, and provide security on public WiFi networks.51 Either VPN or Turbo can be enabled, but not both.52 Standards support Opera was one of the first browsers to support Cascading Style Sheets (CSS).53 Development stages Opera Software uses a release cycle consisting of three "streams" (which correspond to phases of development) that can be downloaded and installed independently of each other: "developer", "beta" and "stable". New features are first introduced in the developer build, then, depending on user feedback, may progress to the beta version and eventually be released.54 The developer stream allows early testing of new features, mainly targeting developers, extension creators, and early adopters. Opera developer is not intended for everyday browsing as it is unstable and is prone to failure or crashing, but it enables advanced users to try out new features that are still under development, without affecting their normal installation of the browser. New versions of the browser are released frequently, generally a few times a week.55 The beta stream, formerly known as "Opera Next", is a feature complete package, allowing stability and quality to mature before the final release. A new version is released every couple of weeks.56 Both streams can be installed alongside the official release without interference. Each has a different icon to help the user distinguish between the variants. Category:Browsers